Slacker x1000

Wellllll, it would seem that I’ve given up on this enterprise altogether. But I think I’d like to at least post periodically, at least randomly when I feel like it. Some commitment, huh? I’ve read a ton this year, and I’ve been using goodreads to document that, but it’s really easier and more fun to do it here. I could always post the same comments I make here on goodreads so other readers can see them…

Blame me for the rocks and baby bones
And broken lock on our
Garden

Garden wall of eden
Full of spiderbites and all your lovers
We were

We were born to fuck each other
One way or another

Evening on the Ground (Lilith’s Song) by Iron & Wine

Let’s do it once, and again because EotG says so.

Honor thy mother and thy father… and thyself

In the never-ending battle for the title of Most Narcissistic Alternative Pop Culturalist, query who is the current leader: Tim DeLaughter or Dave Eggers.

Why do I ask? Well, I saw Polyphonic Spree on Halloween and I just finished A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. (Don’t take the link as an endorsement of Amazon as a merchant. Except for their new mp3 downloads, which kick ass, I’m very anti-Amazon as a merchant. However, as a source of information, Amazon rocks.) I enjoyed the P-Spree show until they played their horrible cover of Lithium and then when Tim started talking. Once he started talking, I wanted to throw up he was so obnoxious.

It took me over a year to read “AHWoSG.” I mean, I read quite a bit of other stuff during that time–I had to keep putting AHWoSG down–but, still, it took a year. I don’t mean to hate on the book… there were a lot of things I liked about it. But Mr. Egger’s narcissism cannot seriously be doubted. Actually (and how narcissistic is this?), he repeatedly calls attention to it in the book. It makes me find him interesting and want to vomit all at once. Much how I feel about P-Spree. Was DeLaughter so into himself in the Tripping Daisy days? I certainly don’t remember TD that way…

Let’s do it once…

a screaming comes across the sky…

So, I’ve read about 10 pages of Gravity’s Rainbow. It is a very dense read. In a way (based on what I’ve read so far), it reminds me of my frustrated attempts to read Catch-22 (into which I’ve never made it more than about 30 pages).

Nevertheless, I’ve already derived more enjoyment from trying to figure out just what is going on in GR than I did from anything during the several months I spent on Plot Against America. I don’t see myself reading GR much quicker than Plot because it’s so dense (and, well, long), but I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy the long read a whole lot more. I might give Sedaris’s Dress Your Family a bit of another try while I’m reading GR, as well.

[editor's note: The possibility of sexual puns relating to the topic of GR and the language used in this post are probably endless. Some were intended.]

Rejoice

I finally finished The Plot Against America. What a piece of crap.

Sort of like a lyric

She said: “every living creature dies alone.”

Donnie, repeating what was told to him by Grandma Death (Roberta Sparrow) in the movie Donnie Darko

And not just living creatuers. Apparently Cody’s books on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley is closing (although their other two locations will remain open). This is very sad news. Cody’s is one of the longest existing businesses on Telegraph and I thought it had done well transitioning through various cultural eras that have flown through Berkeley in general and Telegraph in particular. But apparently not enough people are buying books at that location anymore. I wonder if this reflects a decreased interest in reading by college students in the era of TIVO, Netflix, and XBox. The fact that the locations appealing to more “grown-up” people are keeping afloat suggests that maybe there is a link. Sociology thesis, anybody?

Anyway, thanks to Matt for the (bad) news and the link.

I’m still reading…

…The Plot Against America. I hate it. So boring.

I’ve been lax

It’s been over a month since I posted. And this isn’t much of a post anyway. Hopefully, I’ll get back into it soon. I’m pretty sure some interesting stuff has happened since I last posted (both personal and in the world). I haven’t, however, really read much. I’m still reading The Plot Against America because I don’t like it very much and it’s therefore taking me forever. I’m amazed that Philip Roth is such a popular author. I feel like he’s blabbing on about nothing most of the time and, even though I’m over halfway through, I can’t figure out if the book has a plot, if it’s “character driven,” or… well, I just can’t see the point of the book unless the whole purpose was to describe what his childhood neighborhood looked like and realized he had to put it in a nicer package or nobody would buy it.

I watched the remake of the Haunting (based on the book The Haunting of Hill House) last night. It was a generic stupid horror movie (notwithstanding the billing as a more intelligent horror movie), but I liked it. If for no other reason than because it takes place in Hill House, which was the name of my freshman dorm.

Enough rambling for today, perhaps a more coherent post soon.

Law geek

I looked up de minimis in Gardner and was disappointed to find no mention of the (patently incorrect) spelling “de minimus”. I see this spelling used so often in legal opinions (although the proper spelling remains the overwhelming majority) that I would expect Gardner to take the space to say, “Idiots, there is no letter ‘u’ in the word minimis.” He totally does that for other words, though I can’t think of an example off hand.

By the way, Alito is awful awful awful and I don’t trust John Roberts. I fear for the rights of criminal defendants, civil rights laws, abortion, the ability to sue bad people and companies, and a whole bunch of other things. [sigh...]

as jack said…

…i’m baaaaaack. back at work, that is. my vacation was great, relaxing, fun, spent a lot of time with my friends, etc.

stupid northwest airlines cancelled my flight to california on 12/30 and basically refused to put me on another airline. so i had to fly out at 6:50 on 12/31 and ended up being really tired on nye, although it was really fun anyway. i was not sober.

maybe i’ll write more about my vacation later…

Here’s my updated list of everything i’ve read since i got to Madison, starting with the present, going backward:
1. Philip Roth – The Plot Against America – just started it, everybody else has read it, so I might as well, too; so far, so good.
2. David Sedaris – Dress Your Family… – haven’t really read much more of this (really none at all since I started Prep, but I figure I’ll go back to it eventually).
3. Sam Lipsyte – Home Land – not bad, a memoirish novel (the genre currently overwhelming America) written in the form of unpublishable letters to a high school alumni newsletter. A bit contrived but a quick read with some good parts. Clearly influenced by Bukowski.
4. Kurt Vonnegut – God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – I could take it or leave it. Not at all my favorite Vonnegut (faves are Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions).
5. Mario Puzo – The Godfather – I think I’ve commented on this already, but a decent read; some interesting things illuminating the movies.
6. Curtis Sittenfield – Prep – I’ve commented on this extensively
7. Lynn Truss – Eats, Shoots and Leaves
8. Charles Cross – Heavier Than Heaven
9. Malcolm Gladwell – Blink
10. Michael Chabon – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

So, I’ve read seven full books, plus partway through two, and finished Kavalier and Clay since I moved to Madison. I’m also occassionally reading from A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage (2nd ed.), which I hope to read all of by, say, age 35.

So this is way more books than I read total over three years of law school and possibly more books than I’ve read in total since I graduated college. That’s kind of sad, but at least I’m finally reading again. I’ll probably keep this list updated here.

nothing doing

Still reading The Godfather, the movie is very very similar to the book. Probably not really a worthwhile read, but I’m far enough through that I’m not going to drop it. Hopefully, I’ll finish before next Friday so I can take new books with me for the plane flights and the week off. Or maybe I’ll work on the plane.

I haven’t watched any movies lately, but from netflix I currently have The Big Lebowski, Field of Dreams, and Hotel Rwanda. I’ve seen the first two lots of times, but not the third.

That’s about it, but I should really be working right now… I have so much I should do before I take a week off!